RUMOR REPORT: WORLD CUP, DYNASTY, INFAMOUS AND MORE

Hello again boys and girls! This is the second installment of the Social Paintball Rumor Report and I’m still your guide, Peter Burnell. For the uninitiated, here’s how this works. I keep my large ears tuned into the paintball underworld to get rumors, I post them (in articles like this) and provide you with some idea of what it may mean and possibly a percentage on how accurate I think factoid is. So…here we go.

First up, is some news from Tampa Bay Damage.

RUMOR: Dave Bains is going to retire after this season.
Certainty: I hope not, but when you’re having to sit out of tournaments because you slipped in the shower and hurt your back…eh, maybe it’s a sign. 70% right now.

RUMOR: Damage will only play in PSP next year, and possibly the rumored Valken league.
Certainty: 90%. I have heard the guys have do not want to attempt another run in Europe and I’ve heard that the team wants to focus to get back to top shape. What about the NPPL? Would you make the jump from PSP to NPPL right now? As for the Valken league, we’ll see.

RUMOR: On this issue of Valken, ive heard they will be opening a FL location.
Certainty: 80%. Are they are in their right mind? No. Don’t they have an Atlanta distribution point?

RUMOR: Half of Dynasty is over playing in the NPPL
Certainty: 90%. You’ve seen their putrid performance this year in the PSP, but did you know they’re also ranked 6th in the NPPL? This is DYNASTY. D-Y-N-A-S-T-Y, the BEST 7-man team of all time. I was worried the guys were going to overextend themselves this season with PSP, NPPL, Mill and all the other stuff they do in between events. They should scale back and focus more on winning next season. Of course, you’ve got to question what this says about the NPPL. The Dragon has basically been the flagship team of the league. The real question is what that says about the NPPL. If they drop the format? Looks like handwriting on the wall to me.

RUMOR: Infamous will only play in the PSP next season
Certainty: 90%. They’ve done well this season in the PSP, the new (bad) fields and slow (boring) play lend themselves well to the style of play Infamous does. Again, what does this say about the NPPL? Is the webcast really forcing teams to make this decision?

RUMOR:Edmonton Impact to play all of PSP next season, and World Cup.
Certainty: 90% on next season, 100% cup. Impact jumped the ship from the PSP after last season, but with the N(i)PPL(e) not gaining any real traction, it only makes sense for them to jump back over. Social Paintball confirmed that they’d be at WC. This is interesting from a player perspective because it remains to be seen what Chad George (snake player for Houston Heat) will do (he has some major Impact ties).

RUMOR:15 teams will be in the PSP pro division next year.
Certainty: 70%. Nothing will be firm until the money is on the table/teams are registered…but who is the missing? Add Impact and that’s 13, add XSV you get 14, and 15? Check the D1 list of teams at MAO. Anything look familiar?

By Peter G. Burnell